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Psalm 113 · a question people ask

Who are "you servants of the LORD" (113:1)?

In the text

The psalm doesn't say more than that: "Praise, you servants of the LORD, praise the LORD’s name" (113:1). Psalm 135 opens with the same Hebrew words as Psalm 113:1, with its last two calls in the other order: "Praise the LORD’s name! Praise him, you servants of the LORD" (Psalm 135:1). It goes on, "you who stand in the LORD’s house" (Psalm 135:2). Psalm 134 also calls "all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the LORD’s house" (Psalm 134:1). Psalm 113 names no house and no time of night. These notes don't narrow servants further than the psalm does.

The verses

“Praise the LORD! Praise, you servants of the LORD, praise the LORD’s name.”
Psalm 113:1 · World English Bible
“Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD’s name! Praise him, you servants of the LORD, you who stand in the LORD’s house, in the courts of our God’s house.”
Psalm 135:1-2 · World English Bible
“A Song of Ascents. Look! Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the LORD’s house!”
Psalm 134:1 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 113

Psalm 113: Who stoops down to see

In Hebrew the LORD who "has his seat on high" (113:5) is the one who will "set him with princes" (113:8) and who "settles the barren woman in her home" (113:9): seat, set and settles are one verb. And "He raises up the poor out of the dust" (113:7) is Hannah's prayer, word for word in the WEB (1 Samuel 2:8).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions